Reinvention, Resilience, and the Pursuit of Safety in Stunts

Scott Leva’s story begins not with the roar of engines or the crash of glass, but in the discipline of gymnastics and martial arts—a young outsider, moving from place to place as a military kid, finding solace and strength in the physical. Inspired by the everyman relatability of Spider-Man, Leva’s early love for comic book heroes would foreshadow a career spent redefining what’s possible in action cinema.

The Path from Performer to Pioneer

Leva’s leap from champion gymnast to actor brought him to New York, but it was the encouragement of top stunt professionals—and later, the legendary Dar Robinson—that set him on his true path. Moving west on Robinson’s advice, Leva paid his dues in Knott’s Berry Farm stunt shows and Hollywood’s competitive stunt circuit, learning from the best and quietly becoming a high-fall specialist in his own right. Yet tragedy—losing friends and colleagues to airbag failures—sparked a new purpose: making stunts safer for everyone.

Engineering a Safer Industry

In 1997, driven by personal loss and first-hand experience, Leva revolutionized the stunt airbag. His design, born from intensive research and innovation, solved the deadly flaws of traditional airbags—ensuring that even off-center landings were survivable. The result: an industry-wide leap in safety, saving dozens of lives and earning Leva the Academy Award for Technical Achievement in 2006. “There’s about 48 people alive today that have hit my bag wrong. If it were a standard bag, probably wouldn’t be here anymore,” Leva reflects .

Multi-Award-Winning Stunt Innovator

Leva’s technical ingenuity has been recognized across the industry:

* Academy Award Winner (Sci-Tech, 2005)

* Emmy Winner (Engineering, 2008)

* World Stunt Award Nominee (Best High Work & Best Overall Stunt, 2003)

* Screen Actors Guild Award Nominee (Outstanding Stunt Ensemble, “Dexter”, 2009)

With over 200 film and television credits—including X-Men, Star Trek, Letters from Iwo Jima, and hits like The Office and Castle—Leva has shaped iconic action sequences, mentored stars like Hugh Jackman, and brought comic book authenticity to the screen. His collaborations span from Clint Eastwood and Spielberg to the Marvel Universe, even landing his own place in comic book lore as the cover star of The Amazing Spider-Man #262.

Stunt Choreography, Second Unit Direction, and Beyond

Whether rigging wire stunts for Gwen Stefani’s music videos, engineering high falls for Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (earning a Taurus World Stunt Award nomination), or coordinating kinetic fights for Olivier Gruner’s military films, Leva’s approach is defined by scientific rigor and a commitment to creative storytelling. “There’s a science, and there’s a way to keep it safe, but make it look spectacular,” he explains .

Legacy, Connection, and the Future of Stunts

As new technologies like AGI and stunt robots reshape the industry, Leva remains an advocate for both practical innovation and human artistry—valuing trust, teamwork, and the sacred responsibility of keeping performers safe. His life, chronicled in a candid memoir, is as much about personal growth and resilience as it is about death-defying feats.

At home, Leva’s greatest pride remains his family: “My most cherished accomplishments are my wife Betsy and our beautiful daughter Georgia.” For Scott Leva, the real adventure has always been about connection—between science and art, innovation and safety, and a quiet, unwavering pursuit of purpose.

From Pixar to the Edge of AI FilmmakingFlashback to the heyday of CG: Stefan Bugaj cut his teeth in the trenches of cinematic storytelling, helping invent new ways for audiences to shape the story—whether in games or interactive TV. Fast-forward to 2023: Bugaj leads creative at Genvid, bagging an Emmy for Silent Hill: Ascension, an always-live, audience-driven horror series that blurs the line between television and gaming. Hundreds of thousands steer the outcome, making every episode a social event and a narrative experiment.AI as Paintbrush, Not PuppetmasterStefan’s creative pivot? Harnessing generative AI for everything except the soul: visuals, sound, production—leaving core performances to humans, at least for now. The result: The Seeker, a GenAI short film produced for less than the cost of a single spacesuit, using an original pro-level GenAI filmmaking tool he co-designed. The trick isn’t replacing artists, but closing the gap between imagination and execution—allowing indies and outsiders to leap over budget walls, censorship regimes, and “Hollywood’s 40,000 forgotten scripts.”Guardrails, Governance, and the New Creative Arms RaceAI opens doors, but also Pandora’s box. As deepfakes and unauthorized likenesses threaten reputations and revenues, Bugaj is a vocal advocate for creative accountability: every Genvid project embeds prompts in its metadata for transparency, and he pushes for industry-wide standards in provenance, IP, and consent. “Guardrails, governance, and accountability are essential,” he says—just ask Taylor Swift’s lawyers.The Future: Reactive Worlds and Social Story WorldsWhat’s next? Bugaj sees a future where entertainment is reactive and social—where branching narratives, AI-driven NPCs, and emergent worlds let each viewer or player shape their own canon. He’s building the tools and formats to let indies spin up franchises, deepen fan engagement, and run social experiments at the intersection of games and TV. “It’s not about how the pixels are made,” he says. “It’s about giving audiences the experiences they crave—authentic, interactive, and always evolving.”Emmy and Webby winner. You may not have heard his name, but you’ve played in his worlds—and the next ones will be built with code, creativity, and a careful eye on the risks of the AI age.

From Call of Duty to Copyright Crusader

Flashback to 2014: Erik’s face is scanned for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Six months later, his digital doppelgänger is being shot at by millions—no consent, no compensation, just a billion-dollar payday for the studio. Instead of rage-tweeting, Erik becomes co-chair of SAG-AFTRA’s New Tech Committee, writing the playbook for protecting 170,000 performers at the dawn of synthetic celebrity.

The Ghost in the Studio

Hollywood’s old guard is outgunned by tech titans who own your digital DNA. Erik’s response? Build ProtectDigitalIdentity.org, rally 850+ signatures, and unite a Creative Coalition of actors, copyright maximalists, and AI existentialists. The mission: lock down consent, provenance, and permissions so tight that even TikTok can’t remix your face without a digital permission slip.

Watermarks, Consent, and Digital Fingerprinting: How to Flow with the Next Wave

Watermarking is dead unless you work it—tied to a manifest that tracks who, what, where, and why. Informed consent is the new currency, enforced by code and law. Erik’s vision: every digital asset protected, every use permissioned at the quantum level. Automation is devouring the creative class. Erik’s answer? Pay-per-click for acting, granular accounting for every stream, and a war chest of union power. Mix Aristotle, Asimov, and labor organizing—and you get Erik Passoja, hacking the future so humanity, not just algorithms, wins.